Krockathon 18 was held in the Chevy Court of the N.Y. State fairgrounds. The lineup for this show was just amazing! Sevendust, Skillet, Three Days Grace and Chevelle to name a few.
Krock even tweaked some things to the venue so they could sell 500 more tickets. The show went pretty smoothly for the most part. The main drawbacks from the fans were that there was no tailgating allowed in the parking lot, and there were not enough beer and food vendor’s. They could have used about 30 more port-a-potties also.
First up was Stars In Stereo. They got the crowd going for this one. They did a decent cover of Aerosmith’s Dream On. Singer Bec Hollcraft seemed a little reserved at the beginning, but came into her own by the end. She could be a star someday. If I had to compare them to another band, I would have to say that they are like Paramore kicked up a notch.
All the way from the UK, The Virginmary’s were up next. They were pretty good. I really never heard anything by them, but I really enjoyed their performance. They can definitely rock it live.
This next band was just amazing live. Aranda, to me, is one of the bands on this bill that stole the show. The Aranda brothers, Dameon and Gabe, have some fun with each other using one guitar and holding it in different positions while the other brother plays it!!! Pretty cool $#!^. I highly recommend Aranda’s “Stop The World“cd. It is just hot from top to bottom. I would really like to see this band play a longer set.
The next band on the bill was Red. Red had their Graffiti brick wall set up behind them, which I love as a backdrop. Michael Barnes vocals were just right on point. The Armstrong twins just know how to rock, and they have a ton of energy. I’ve seen Red live of couple of times now, and they just bring it to every show. They are also some of the coolest, most down to earth guys you can meet.
Skillet, who just dropped their “Rise” cd, was next. Here is another band that just stole the show for me. Skillet live is just f’in awesome. Watching Jen Ledger on drums is insane. She just kicks so much @$$ up there. Skillet had their usual co2 pyro in front of the stage. Korey Cooper on guitar and keyboard is just amazing. Watching her rock out is just really fun to watch. The crowd was just nuts for Skillet and John Cooper had them wrapped around his finger. Jen also threw her drumsticks to a fan holding a sign asking her for them, which I though was classy move.
Asking Alexandria were up next and the crowd loved them. I personally am not a huge fan of theirs, but they do put on a good live set.
Flyleaf was set to play next. I am really not feeling Kristen May live. The band itself is OK but she is the $#!^’s. It seemed like every song was butchered by her, and it made me sick. I saw them the night before this show, and again I was not impressed.
Another band I saw the night before was P.O.D. This is when the first of two rain showers started, and it lasted for most of P.O.D’s set. Every time I see this band they kick @$$! I love watching Sonny on stage because you can see how he just feels the lyrics he is singing.
Well up next, according to front man Phillip LaBonte, is the hardest band on the show! All That Remains took the stage next and, like usual, they just killed it. I’ve seen this band a couple of times now, and I love them more and more.
One of my favorite bands ever, Sevendust, is now ready to rock the stage. The topless women are now starting to come out in full force. Lajon is one of the best front men in the business to me. I love him on stage. His emotions bring my emotions out more. The whole band just rocks from start to finish. Lajon said halfway through, “We are not rockstars, we just love to play music.” One classy guy, and a very classy band. You’re all rockstars to me!
I was standing next to a girl at this show who was there for this next band only. Chevelle took the stage and the crowd just loved them. They were really good and sounded awesome.
Last up is Three Days Grace. The second rain fall is now starting. This is where the only snag took place as 3DG took forever to come out and delayed everyone in the rain for about an half hour. After chants of “WTF” and “this is B.S,” the show finally started. This was my second time seeing Matt sing for 3DG and he is really good. I think I liked him better the first time I saw him, though. The crowd was really over for them and even though it was down pouring rain, it was still awesome.
What a great event Krockathon was. A couple of things that I would like to see added to next year’s event—besides more vendors and bathrooms—is a more of a festival experience. I think the bands should have been more hands on for the fans. Don’t get me wrong, some were, but not enough. I think if they set it up like Mayhem/Uproar and they had different tents for the different bands. The facility sure looked like they had enough room for it. One thing I didn’t get was the sticker that they passed out at the gate that was for random meet-n-greets with the bands, but I noticed that the Krock staff was also grabbing people who didn’t have stickers instead of the ones who did, which annoyed a lot of people who got there early to get one of the stickers.
In This Moment began with the first song from their latest record, “Rise with Me”, the daunting setting intensified as a cool fog rolled across the stage and the two white-masked backup dancers made their way to their posts and waited for Upstate New York’s siren to make her presence known. Maria Brink, clad in a red ringmaster coat and a top hat, stepped onto the platform and grabbed the skull staffs as the band began to play “Adrenalize”. Her dancers then handed her a smoke gun, hinting the next song to play was “Blazin’”, her piercing shriek gave the ever-adoring fans such chills. For the next song, “Whore”, Maria wore a white button down shirt and a plaid mini skirt with a cone hat that read WHORE. At the end of the song, Brink gave the hat to an over-eager fan. In This Moment ended their set with “Burn” and “Blood”. During those two songs, Maria wore a red billowing cape, definitely a fitting outfit for both songs. In This Moment definitely pumped the fans up for Skillet’s heavenly arrival.
To say Skillet‘s introduction was “awesome” is a huge understatement. They started with a heavy electronic remixed version of “Hero”, the anticipation from the fellow concert junkies growing within every booming second. Finally, Skillet made their presence known, immediately starting their set with “Hero”, quickly followed by “Whispers in the Dark”. John introduced the next song from their latest album, Rise, “Sick of It” to which the fans began to chant with Cooper, then the band went straight into the catchy, heavy-beat song. Skillet then brought out their two musicians who played the strings intro for “Comatose”. The next to be performed was “Rise” and the band surprised their fans with their rising platforms during the performance of “Awake and Alive”. Before Skillet proceeded with “The Last Night”, John gave a brief explanation of the song, of a close friend attempted to end her life, and he wrote the song to say that God is more than willing to give second chances, because everyone deserves them. Afterwards, the band played “Not Gonna Die”, “Circus for a Psycho”, ending the set with “Monster” and “Rebirthing”. Skillet sure did put on a very powerful performance, filled with songs that will haunt the back of the music lovers mind for the rest of the night. Oh, but the madness did not end there. It was Papa Roach‘s turn to reveal what they had in store for us.
Shinedown started with a giant black drape set in front of the stage with their symbol in the dead center of it. The lights dimmed, hinting it was time for the madness to continue. Brent Smith’s powerful, melodic voice could be heard from behind the drape as he began to sing “I’m Not Alright”, then the drape dropped and revealed what was really going on behind the curtain. Street performers waving flames around, fire-breathers on the stage, it was the very definition of what is expected of the Carnival of Madness. Shinedown continued their set with “Enemies”, “Devour”, and “Unity”. Through the speedy setlist, they proceeded with “The Crow and the Butterfly”, their fast paced track, “Adrenaline”, and their very moving yet powerful current single, “I’ll Follow You”. The next song to play was “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay, Boom-Lay, Boom)”, the overhead lights spelled out BOOM after each time Shinedown yelled out the word. The thunderstorm outside of the amphitheater began to intensify with every beat of the song and at the last BOOM, a crack of thunder shook the ground, as if God was really rocking out to Shinedown as well. They then continued with “If You Only Knew”, “Amaryllis”, and “45”. But the evening did not end there. Shinedown briefly left the stage, leaving some of the fans chanting their name, begging for more. They then returned to the stage, giving the crowd the encore they’ve all been waiting for: the song that fits their performance perfectly, “Sound of Madness”, “Second Chance”, and their infamous cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Simple Man”. Shinedown ended the evening with the first single from their latest record, “Bully”. One mind-blowing way to end the evening.
